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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28472841">Reshuffle the Deck</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/YunaBlaze/pseuds/YunaBlaze'>YunaBlaze</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Corpo V (Cyberpunk 2077), Humor, M/M, Nomad V (Cyberpunk 2077), Reincarnation, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Swearing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:22:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,045</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28472841</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/YunaBlaze/pseuds/YunaBlaze</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Legendary Edgerunner, V, had died a lonely death, but death was not the end to this legend. Fate had oh so graciously decided to reshuffle the deck of his destiny. Now the hand V was dealt with was different from the one he had last drawn. Born within the silver cage that was the Corpo life, the Nomad must face a new life that was completely different from the one he had previously lived and forged bonds with individuals he had never dreamt of. Will he live a better life? Or will he walk towards the same inevitable fate?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Goro Takemura &amp; Male V, Goro Takemura &amp; V, Goro Takemura/Male V, Goro Takemura/V, Sandayu Oda &amp; Male V, Sandayu Oda/Male V</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. 00 - Final Destination</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vincent “V” Kenway had many regrets in his short near three decades lifespan, not being able to prevent the deaths of those he could and losing his friends for one reason or another. Now... He was simply waiting for his end. His death clock had long started ticking since he came back from the dead in the landfill and he had exhausted everything in him to continue moving.</p><p>The mercenary ran his hand over his black buzz cut hair, ignoring how painful it felt just doing this simple action. Grey blue eyes stared tiredly at the skeletal figure staring back at him in the mirror. The infamous and legendary edgerunner of Night City had been reduced to this frail husk. The brunet quickly put his old Nomad clothing, it felt strange to put on his old identity after becoming a legend of his own, but at the same time, it was like he was coming back home, coming back to that naïve child, whose thought would always remain on where the next bend of the road would lead him.</p><p>As he stepped out of the bathroom, a horrible pain hit him in the guts and caused him to start coughing. Blood and saliva coated his hands as V thought. <em>Breathe. Breathe. Just keep breathing! NOT YET!</em></p><p>The attack soon died down, leaving him winded and even more exhausted. His body was begging him to just walk towards his bed and set his plans aside, but he forcefully ignored its plead as he dragged himself towards the door, picking up the heavy duffle bag he had set beside it.</p><p>A small meow stopped him in his track as he looked down to see his cat, purring and pressing himself against his leg as if to comfort him. He knelt down to pet his little companion as he whispered, ‘Hey Nibbles. I’ll be leaving for a long while... I hope you’ll be able to find a better owner than me.’</p><p>Nibbles’ big yellow eyes looked up at him with something akin to sadness as V gave him one last brush on his head before he straightened himself up with bag in hand. The mercenary took a deep breath, one last strong impression and then he could allow himself to drop the legend act. For good...</p><p>Stepping out of his apartment, V kept his focus straight ahead, the Delamain vehicle waiting for him on the street as per his order. He threw the bag in and quickly entered the vehicle’s back seat.</p><p>‘Good morning, V,’ the AI’s smooth voice sounded within the vehicle before the screen in front of him displayed the AI’s avatar. ‘You seem rather exhausted today.’</p><p>‘Yeah, a bit of a rough night,’ the brunet replied as nonchalantly as he could managed as he rest against his seat.</p><p>‘Perhaps you would like to postpone this trip?’ Delamain offered, ever thoughtful of the human who was their charge and the duty their predecessor had left behind for him to take care of. ‘There is no need to rush out.’</p><p>‘No... It’s fine. I’ll just rest a bit along the way,’ V softly refused. He had a rather soft spot for Delamain Jr. who had been doing his best to make sure he was comfortable and ensuring his safety from point A to point B when driving became difficult for him. So he rather let the artificial being down gently than snapped at him like he did to some people. ‘This trip is important to me...’</p><p>‘I see,’ Delamain intoned in a thoughtful manner before the avatar nodded and gave the human a small smile. ‘Then I shall ensure you arrive at your destiny safely as per usual, V.’</p><p>‘Thanks Del,’ V thanked him softly as he got comfortable. ‘If I doze off, just wake me up when we get there.’</p><p>‘Of course, sir,’ the AI replied with his professional tone.</p><p>***</p><p>‘Sir? V? Please respond.’</p><p>‘What?’ V slurred out, feeling too heavy to even open his eyes and everything sounded so distant.</p><p>‘We have arrived, V,’ a mechanical voice informed him.</p><p>The mercenary barely managed to force his own eyes opened, flinching when he caught the sunlight directly to his face. He groaned as he raised one hand weakly to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness, waiting for the color spots to disappear before blue eyes focused on the view outside. No bright city, heaps of trash or even artificial construct in sight; nothing but tall mountains, sandy roads and a huge lake.</p><p>‘Thanks Del,’ V murmured as he stepped out of the car with the duffle bag. ‘You can pick me up next morning. I’ll be here for the night.’</p><p>‘Are you sure? I wouldn’t mind keeping you company for a bit. It is rare for me to even be this far away from Night City,’ Delamain Jr. remarked, half out of the curious of an innocent child and half out of worry.</p><p>‘Alright, you can stick around a bit,’ the brunet replied with a small smile, patting the hood of the car gently as he went to set up camp. It had been a long time since he had last been out camping. His Nomad days usually involved sleeping in his car, but once in a blue moon, he would camp beside his car and just enjoyed whatever nature could still offer to a parasite like him.</p><p>Setting up camp was harder than he remembered, especially when his own fingers were not as dexterous as they previously were, but he managed in the end. Even gathering some wood for a small bonfire made his muscles and bones arched painfully, yet he refused to allow himself to take it easy. For he no longer had the luxury of time...</p><p>By the time everything was set up, the sun was already replaced by the moon. Breathing heavily, V finally allowed himself to take a break and just... relaxed. Tired eyes looked up at the starry night sky above. His own world had gone to shit and back and yet the heaven above remained forever the same, tranquil and silent. Minor comfort he supposed. Despite everything that had happened, how fucked up his life had turned out to be and how many people he cared about died.</p><p>The tightness in his chest came suddenly and the weak brunet started coughing up a storm of blood, stubbornly clinging onto to consciousness. He forcefully kept his eyes opened despite all the distortions and error messages popping up in his vision. The attack passed as quick as it came, he remained breathing still, but the Evening Bell had tolled.</p><p>V shook off the speck of blood on his hand as he pointedly ignored how wound up his heart felt in his chest and stomped out the fear in him that wished to cry out his refusal to accept his imminent death. Taking a few short breaths to steady himself, V took out a bag of marshmallows with shaking hands. A faint smile appeared on his lips. Once upon a time, he had suggested to a certain Japanese to try out marshmallows, a bit burn always made this taste better and not worse. The brunet shook his head lightly to dismiss the thought. Not wanting to think too much about all the remaining friends he would be leaving behind. He had made sure to keep things quiet and pretend as much as he could that he was still fine, though he was pretty sure Vik and Misty were the only two who couldn’t be fooled by his tough acts, seeing one had been keeping tabs on his health and the other had her mystic tricks to glimpse at the truth.</p><p>As the tired mercenary started skewing the marshmallows, his holo started to ping and the name of the caller was an unexpected one.</p><p>‘Goro?’</p><p>‘V, where are you?’ the Japanese instantly demanded.</p><p>‘Hello to you too,’ V muttered back, though a faint smile was on his lips. If the mercenary was ever honest, he would admit that this picky eater of a bodyguard had dug a special spot in his heart, though he kept that under tight wraps, seeing it was obvious that Takemura would never see him as a potential romantic partner. Even if the serious man ever did... Well... V could no longer give him any more time.</p><p>There was that short silence, in which V could easily pictured that scrunched up face Takemura made whenever he was exasperated by something, then he restarted his whole greeting, though in a rather strained manner. ‘Hello as well V, now can you tell me where you are?</p><p>V would have teased the man further, if his body would actually let him. Another heavy cough tore through his body and more blood came out of him. The panic shouts in his head were not helping.</p><p>‘I’m fine...’ V gasped out weakly.</p><p>‘You are not fine,’ Goro growled out. ‘Give me your coordinates now. I’ll come find you.’</p><p>‘I’m... just in the Badlands. Beyond the city boarder,’ the dying edgerunner answered in a whisper. He hesitated for a second to send his coords. What the hell was he even thinking? He had gotten too used to giving in to Takemura’s demands that he had almost forgotten the reason he chose to be here was to die a peaceful solitude death. He did not wish to see anyone’s sad face or teary eyes as they watched the last flicker of life in him snuffed out.</p><p>‘Okay, that is enough to help me pinpoint you,’ the Japanese suddenly announced and V could faintly hear some noises of the city in the background. Wait...</p><p>‘What?’ V intoned in confusion, frowning as he checked that he did not send out his location in the holo. A faint memory resurfaced in the back of his mind, reminding him that Takemura hadn’t always trusted him. ‘Fucking Hell. Did you ever shut off the damn tracker you had put in me?’</p><p>‘Clearly it was a wise decision,’ Goro replied sardonically.</p><p>‘Asshole,’ V muttered without any heat as he stared down at the marshmallows he had dropped. He picked up the skewed confectionery and weakly plucked off the part coated in sand.</p><p>‘Why did you leave Night City without telling anyone? You are in no shape or form to be on your own,’ Takemura berated him.</p><p>V paused slightly in his plucking before he answered, ‘Just wanted some time on my own.’</p><p>‘You are making things worse for everyone by just leaving without a word.’</p><p>‘And you’re not my babysitter, Goro! You don’t fucking care about me!’ V snapped back, though he soon started coughing again, falling onto his side as he struggled to catch his breath. Fuck his life! Was it too much to ask for a peaceful death? Was he doomed to fight to his death? Yeah! Night City Legend died of a heart stroke from arguing with his crush! What an amazing end! Johnny would definitely come back to shoot him for such a lame ending...</p><p>By the time the coughing finally ceased, V felt like more than half of his life had been drained from it. He no longer even had the energy to get back up from where he had fallen. V just weakly gazed up at the night sky above. His vision was flickering statically while his other senses were muddled. Yet he could still faintly make out someone’s voice calling out his name.</p><p>Ah... right... Goro... The holo was still on...</p><p>V tried to open his mouth to apologize and reassure the man, but he choke as something horribly wet and slimy was clawing from within his throat. Black spots started to appear in his sight as the flickering statics increased as well. He couldn’t breathe...</p><p><em>I’m sorry. Goro...</em> V thought sadly as he closed his eyes for the last time, falling into death’s embrace.</p><p>***</p><p>‘CONGRATULATIONS! IT’S A BABY BOY!’</p><p><em>Uh... what? Where? Who? What the fuck is going on? </em>V thought sluggishly as he struggled to understand what was happening, though it was hard to focus with that horrible ringing in his ears and when he tried to open his eyes, everything was too bright. He opened his mouth to demand answers, but all that came out was a high pitch wail, words refused to form no matter how hard he tried.</p><p>V barely registered what was happening as he was placed next to a freaking giantess.<em> Uh... What the fuck?! If this is afterlife, this is not funny!</em></p><p>‘SHIT... HE’S TINY AS HELL,’ the female remarked tiredly, her words were horribly loud to his ears, looking like she wanted to shove V away if she didn’t look like she was half-dead. The woman had sweat covered her pale skin, her black hair with neon blue highlights was greasy and her olive green eyes held nothing but disinterest in them as she regarded V. ‘TWENTY FUCKING HOURS OF GODDAMN PAIN TO GIVE BIRTH TO A SCREECHING DEMON. I SHOULD MAKE HIM PAY FOR IT FROM HIS FUTURE PAYCHECKS.’</p><p>V’s mouth instantly closed at that, not just because of how cold the woman was and what she had uttered, it was also the fact that the dots finally clicked in his mind. HE WAS A FUCKING BABY! HIS BODY WAS THAT OF A BABY!!!</p><p>‘THAT’S ENOUGH, NATALIA. HE MIGHT BE SMALL NOW, BUT HE’LL GROW. JUST LIKE SIRIUS,’ a gruff voice said.</p><p>The baby blinked in surprise as a pair of hands took hold of him and his vision was covered by a scarred face. It was definitely an intimidating one. What with the scars that covered the left side of his face, from shrapnel probably, but the eyes... well... they were a familiar blue. His grey blue, the colour that his old mother had once told was unique to his dad.</p><p>‘WOULD YOU LIKE TO REGISTER THE BABY’S NAME, SIR?’ a female automated voice sounded and out popped a hologram screen in front of them. V tilted his head as much as he could while his head was being held by this stranger and he was sure his eyes had widened a fraction at what was written on it.</p><p>
  <strong>FIRST NAME: _</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>LAST NAME: BELMONT</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>GENDER: MALE</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>DATE OF BIRTH: JUNE 10<sup>TH</sup>, 2049</strong>
</p><p>This couldn’t be right...</p><p>He... died in 2077. Why the hell was it 2049? The date was exactly the day he was born! What the fuck?! What the FUCK?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!</p><p>A panicked wail erupted within the room like a sonic bomb.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. 01 - The Baby Fool</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Okay. Okay. Okay. Now that V was pretty much stuck in a plastic box that was hooked to several machines within a white room, the shock and panic had passed, relatively speaking, seeing wailing his head off was not going to solve anything and he was pretty much stuck in this baby body of his. This was no dream or afterlife, this was reality. Like some kind of weird fantasy novel with a cliché beginning, V had officially been reincarnated. Vincent “V” Kenway, the Nomad, had died and was reborn as Valentine Belmont, a Corpo runt... Fuck that sounded like a huge ass joke the universe decided to play on him as a final Fuck-You-and-Good-Luck.</p><p>V grimaced at the mere thought that this was officially how his life would restart. Wasn’t it supposed to be a complete blank canvas? Yet he could easily remember his life as a Nomad, how he carved his own legend in Night City and everything that had happened with Johnny in his head. At the thought of the Rockerboy, the baby started blinking rapidly as a sudden realization hit him. Was everything still the same? History wise? Did Johnny Silverhand bomb the Arasaka Tower 26 years ago? Was there ever a Johnny Silverhand? Did Arasaka even exist? Was this world the same as the one he had previously lived in?</p><p>The onslaught of questions popping up in his head just made him feel sick. The baby rolled over on his side, curling as he tried to get this tiny body of his under control. Yeah a runt’s body couldn’t exactly handle mental stress as easily as an adult body did. Great... Barely a week old, he was already stressed as fuck and wanted to shut down. What an awesome start. Still...</p><p>Rolling from left to right, back and forth, in his little plastic box, the gears in V’s head were slowly turning. Alright, until he could somehow confirm any of these damn things that were stressing his baby body out, he would stop thinking about them. Panicking would not help and overthinking would only make it worse. With a sigh, he rolled onto his back to stare at the white ceiling above. Fuck. This was too weird. His body felt off without the weight of his chromes and the insecurity grew when a HUD wouldn’t pop up in his vision. Then again, he was currently an unenhanced infant, couldn’t exactly expect any Monowire or Kiroshi optics on a growing body. He had to wait until he was fifteen to get any sort of cyberwares. Okay. History and cyberwares were going to the back burner for now. What could he currently do? Besides getting bored out of his mind in here...</p><p><em>Reconnaissance is required. </em>A gruff voice sounded in his mind, putting pause to all thought process in his baby brain.</p><p>V blinked as his vision blurred before he realized that he was actually crying. Takemura... Shit. His last words to the Japanese were harsh and undeserved. He did not mean to snap at Goro who had actually given a damn about his health and was honestly worried about his condition. Fuck... And he had to listen to him choking up as he died. Vik, Misty, Panam... Everyone he knew had people they could lean onto, but Takemura? Fuck... He was a foreigner stuck in a city that he hated, with no one he could rely on other than V... He did not... He did not mean to leave Takemura behind with his corpse for company. It wasn’t in his intention to... Shit! Shit! SHIT!</p><p>His senses started to turn to lead and the baby found it difficult to breathe as the heavy guilt was poisoning his entire nervous system. Error messages started to pop up on the machines around him, making his weak heart beat even faster in panic. His sight started to blacken and a sharp scent struck his nose before he knew no more.</p><p>***</p><p>V should had known that with how much he had been panicking, it would eventually lead to some unsavoury medical discussion, though he would have honestly preferred to not have the doctor and his own father talking about it above his head. Being a baby suck...</p><p>‘A weak heart, you said,’ V’s father, Joachim Belmont, repeated. If V was honest, he was still surprised that he actually got a father. In his previous life, he only had his mother, for his dad had died during a convoy raid when he was just a toddler, so he was only ever raised by a maternal figure and had little to no good impression of a paternal one. With how his current father stood, legs slightly apart and hands rested behind his back, and spots of grey on the side of his dark brown crew cut. Everything about him simply screamed old military. Ugh... Just thinking about all those strict robot-like grunts he had to deal with in the past made him mentally gagged.</p><p>‘The problem is not exactly a weak heart per say, but take a look at these brain scans,’ the doctor said as she pulled the digital screen close for the senior Belmont to see the brain scans. ‘Scans show rapid developments on your son’s brain, which is rather unusual for a newborn. With how fast his mental capacity is developing, it does put a strain on the rest of his still developing body. It’s highly possible that the infant had already developed a strong awareness of his surroundings and our usual isolation procedure had caused him distress. Remaining here will only cause unnecessary harm to your child. The best solution is for you to take him home and we’ll send a doctor over once a week to check on his condition.’</p><p>V stared up at his father who had turned to study him. The man’s unwavering gaze did not, oddly enough, unnerve him. Still, the baby had no idea what to think of the Belmont patriarch. While V would love to be out of this damn clean room, he got the idea that the chance of him being discharged was quite low. After all, to Corpo parents, their children were nothing but tools for further improvements towards wealth and power, their safety and health were not on their list of responsibilities.</p><p>So far, his impression of his current mom was quite bleak, the woman had zero interest in him, pretty much washed her hands off of him after his birth and had complained nonstop about the months of pregnancy being a waste of time. She was the complete opposite of the Kenway mother who had dedicated her whole life to ensure her son could handle anything the road could throw at him. As for Joachim? Well... his dad was still an unknown factor, but he doubted he would be any different. There was a reason why there was a saying of, “You can kick the rat outta the corp, but you’ll never kick the corp outta the rat.”</p><p>‘Very well, I shall take him with me. Please go through the proper procedures for the discharge.’</p><p><em>Okay... I stand corrected...</em> V thought, blinking in surprise. He looked at the scarred face of his father who was still staring at him with that impassive expression. While he had always hated people with a good poker face, he supposed he could deal with the ugly mug of this dad. Ah, sweet freedom...</p><p>The whole process proved once more that Night City only took care of those with thick wads of eddies in their pocket, because a final check-up, a loopy signature and some fresh change of clothes, both father and son were out in their AV. Grey blue eyes were glued to the digital projection of the city outside as the aerial vehicle flew over the busy streets below and circled around megabuildings. He rarely had much of a chance to enjoy such ride, seeing last time he was in one, it was all business.</p><p>His home was located in the City Center district, one of the penthouse suites for the riches.</p><p>‘Welcome home, Valentine,’ Joachim said softly as they stepped off of the AV and into their home.</p><p>***</p><p>V had to admit that it felt strange to have a home that was at least ten times bigger than his old apartment in the Megabuilding 10. Tall glass windows that were probably bulletproof, decor focused mostly on laminated wood with gold trimming, extra large size for all furniture and the best techs on the market. Your typical Corpo lifestyle, where everything that surrounded you just screamed eddies. The yard they had was what he liked the most, a large patch of artificial grass surrounding a swimming pool with a jungle gym playground in a corner. Perfect for future training when his growth spurt finally hit.</p><p>The baby was thankful that his mom was not around, knowing her, V would bet all the money he had earned from his previous life that Natalia would be complaining about his presence. From what V had gathered from the holo call Joachim had made, it seemed like she was some kind of researcher. An obsessive one who jumped right back to work the moment her child was out of her body and drugs were pumped into her to get her back into tip top shape. At least, this meant he wouldn’t have to deal with her.</p><p>Oh, and he also had a brother, Sirius Belmont, older than him by ten years. An energetic child, who had spent many hours circling around V when their dad set him down in the crib and asked so many questions that even V had a hard time to keep up. Surprisingly, Joachim had enough patience to answer each one instead of backhanding Sirius or yelling at him to go back to his room.</p><p>Sadly, there was still a slight problem with his early discharge that the Belmont patriarch had to deal with, which was who could look after him. Sirius was still a kid himself, so not a reliable guardian for a baby and not to mention he had studies to do. The mother was a lost cause from the beginning, as she had pointedly disconnected when Joachim called to ask for her opinion on the matter. Honestly, with how things were going, V would have said that the safest bet would be his dad, though the man still had his own company to run. He was the owner of the Belmont Clan, a private military corporation that operated mainly on security and convoy protection services. Of course, that was what was being sold to the public, from what V had caught glimpses of from computer screens, some of their works leaned a tad too close to Edgerunner territory and they seemed to be in competition with the Nomads in the Badlands too.</p><p>For now, his dad had started working from home to keep an eye on him until he found a trustworthy babysitter to look after him and left V to his own device, probably assuming he would be napping most of the time like all babies and would only have to deal with soiled diapers and feeding times.</p><p>This meant that V wasn’t under any type of strict supervision like in the hospital, so long that he didn’t do anything too out of the ordinary and draw any unwanted attention. The baby had settled on an initial course of action, which was to strengthen his body as much as he could and as long as he could, seeing knowledge was out of his reach at the moment. Stretching was the first thing on his list to build up his muscles and to get his body to obey his brain’s command more. Second course was to work on his verbal ability, because he really, really did not want to pull the crybaby card for getting hungry or having shit or pee. Sure his body was that of a baby and it would be reasonable to bawl for help, but his damn mind was a fucking 27-year-old! It would be too fucking embarrassing! Ugh! Just thinking about it was enough to make him feel sick in the stomach!</p><p>‘Auh... Augh... A... Ba... Beh... B...’ V practiced while his hand reached for his foot, grimacing when he ended up rolling onto his side. Again. He quickly rolled back onto his back and continued with his stretching and vocal training. ‘Cig... Cee... C... Duh... D... Ei... E...’</p><p>The baby was so focused on his own little training that he was neglecting his surroundings. He ended up trailing off when he noticed the scarred face of his father above him. <em>Oh shit...</em></p><p>‘Fuc... Ugh... Bah...’ V babbled dumbly as he averted the sharp gaze of the adult. Nope. Nothing wrong here, just a baby doing your typical baby nonsense.</p><p>Joachim quirked an eyebrow at V’s change of tune before he reached down to pick his son up and held him in his arms. A tiny amused smile stretched on his lips when the baby cooed in response, though a quick clearing of his throat wiped the amusement away as he started seriously, ‘There will be a babysitter coming over tomorrow to watch over you. There are some matters at work that require my attention and personal attendance, so I hope you can be on your best behaviour with her. If everything goes well, I will be back before evening.’</p><p>V nodded his head in understanding, though he froze up and mentally berated himself for reacting like he usually did when listening to a fixer’s rundown on an upcoming gig, always bobbing or tilting his head when he was digesting the info given to him or acknowledging certain facts. He was a damn baby! Babies would not react to adult full sentences!</p><p>The smile returned on the patriarch Belmont’s face as he gave V a small pat on the head before he set him back down in the crib. Joachim moved to leave the room, though he paused for a second before he went to the tiny bookshelf in the corner, picking out a worn booklet and set it beside V.</p><p>V stared at his father questioningly, though he got no answer of whatsoever and the adult left without another word. He checked the booklet he got, an alphabet learning with all the alphabet poses. Yeah... V definitely needed to work on his subtlety a bit more if he wanted to continue his trainings without the blaring sign that shouted that he was not normal.</p><p>***</p><p>V did not like his babysitter. Not one bit.</p><p>Sarah Benac, a youthful blonde with a ready smile, was the babysitter his dad had hired to look after him and Sirius, on the side. According to the background check Joachim had ran on her, she was your average Night City citizen, working on several jobs to make sure to keep herself and her family afloat, minor bad records, but nothing extremely incriminating, and no known association with any criminal gangs.</p><p>The reason of V’s dislike was not because Sarah was doing a bad job. No, the blond-haired woman was actually taking good care of him and even made sure to bring him out of his room, carrying him around the house and stopping near the window to get some sunshine as she liked to keep telling him. At first, V had brushed her behaviour off as a dedicated worker attitude, but his instinct had been drumming constantly on the back of his head, so he had started to pay a bit more attention on his temporary guardian. Thank god that instinct was something that you could always fall back on when you were uncertain.</p><p>It was not obvious initially, though V had soon took notice of the pattern of their “walks” and he realized that his babysitter was scouting his home, using him as an excuse to move to different areas without raising suspicions. Sneaky. Nonetheless, he had no idea what the blonde’s goal was, because she had been avoiding Joachim’s office entirely. It couldn’t be a kidnapping gig, too much effort and subterfuge being poured into this infiltration just to bag a toddler and a kid. Sabotage was a possibility, but wouldn’t it make more sense to do this within the company than the boss’ home? So that would be a no as well. Thievery? Possibly, but what could they be looking for? Sure he had managed to sneak a peek or two on some of his dad’s files whenever his father was taking care of him in the office, nothing flagged as important or useful in his eyes. Hmm... Maybe there was something important to that mess of data?</p><p>If her goal was to steal something, then she would need to make sure that he and Sirius would be out of her hair when she would act. His brother would be the easiest to deal with, locking him in his room and disabling the lock, problem number one was solved. Not to mention how distracted the child was with his virtual game nowadays. As for V? The baby was certain that the woman did not even spare a neuron on how to deal with him, seeing he was an infant, dumping him in his crib and keeping his attention on some stuffed toys would be an easy fix. Not. Too bad, she had to deal with a baby with a 27-year-old brain and one who had plenty of experience with mercenary gigs.</p><p>At first, V thought those words with great pride... His body was tragically still that of a baby...</p><p>***</p><p><em>DAMN FUCKING CRIB!!!</em> V yelled in his mind as he was trying to get to the damn mechanism to lower the side of his baby prison. Even with all of his training, he got faster at crawling, but climbing was on a whole other level! He had no time to complain about anything, because Sarah had already acted, so he needed to floor it! On their walk, she had been subtly changing the parameters of the security, so they wouldn’t be following her every movement and leaving the office opened for her sticky hands. She was probably making sure that Sirius was none the wiser of her upcoming crime before she worked on disabling the lock on the child’s door, so V had to get out of his crib now if he wanted to stop this burglary attempt.</p><p>The baby let out a victorious coo when the mechanism finally loosened and dropped the side bars of the crib. Finally! Step one was a success! Now onto step two!</p><p>The infant quietly dropped onto the floor, crawling towards the ventilation shaft near the crib. A brief struggle with the vent cover later, he was out of his room and carefully checking his surrounding as he advanced. <em>Let’s see... I do recall that this sort of apartment has some floor panel where all the home security and electrical currents ran through...</em></p><p>V slapped his hands around the floor in the living room, trying to find the damn mechanism to open the panel, though he ended rushing to hide behind the couch when Sarah came out of the hallway, having sealed his brother’s room.</p><p>‘Alright, now onto the office,’ the blonde muttered to herself as she headed towards the office.</p><p><em>Gotta hurry. Gotta hurry. Gotta hurry!</em> The baby thought as he doubled his slapping, until he finally heard a faint click, the floor board came loose slightly. V pushed it with all of his baby strength and nearly fell into the pit of wires and processing chips. <em>Okay... I can do this. This is not different from usual... Just everything is bigger and easier to get stuck.</em></p><p>V slowly slid himself down, thankful that his baby clothes are thick that it diminished the discomfort of stepping on hard corners and hot wires. It was certainly not as fun as him just putting his arms in here when he had an adult body, but he needed his whole body’s strength to pull anything out of their damn socket. <em>Thank fuck that there is a universal colouring code for these damn wires!</em></p><p>A brief shuffle around the mess of wires later, he found the ones that he wanted, the office’s power cable and the one that powered the security throughout the penthouse. The first one was to cut off all power to the computer in the office, so nothing could be transferred out of it and the second would trigger a hard reset on the security. With that done, V quickly climbed out of the hole with a grimace and crawled to hide next to the pot of plant that next to the office door, where he could faintly hear Sarah cursing inside. For amateurs, their first thought would be to get the power back on, so using that short time window of Sarah going to fix the power issue, he would need to slip inside and grab the hard drive in the computer’s main console.</p><p><em>It’s going to be fine, V. Just get in and delta the fuck out. Your usual gig. </em>V muttered mentally to himself as he held his breath until the female adult stepped out of the room. The baby threw himself into the room and hurried to the console under the desk, his hands moved quickly to disengage the lock that held the hard drive in, pulling the piece out and into his arms. Alright... Crawling might be a little more difficult than he had initially thought with his arms holding something.</p><p>At the sound of approaching footsteps, V felt panic creeping into his limbs, but he suppressed the numbing feeling as much as he could and just headed towards the safest place he could hide in. He rushed towards the vent in the corner and slipped into the shaft, crawling in as far as he could and holding the hard drive tightly against himself. His goal was achieved, but he was still in a bit of a pickle. He couldn’t leave the hard drive in here, for it would inevitably collect enough particles to damage it, something he would like to avoid. Staying here with it would slowly suffocate him, seeing his tiny lungs were not going to be handled all the microscopic dust and whatever damaging particles that could be coating the walls of the vent.</p><p>As he prodded the dirty metal around him, trying to find a loosen panel that might allow him to slip somewhere else, like said the hallway to his room would be great, he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone suddenly yelled, ‘WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?!’</p><p>Grey blue eyes turned to stare at the shock look on Sarah’s face at the opening of the vent. He could give the woman a shrug in response. Yeah... He was just a baby... No idea what the hell he was doing. The woman’s brown eyes turned to the object he was holding, they sharpened for a second before she put on an amicable smile.</p><p>‘Okay, okay, okay. Come here Valentine,’ Sarah started sweetly, gesturing with her hand to approach her.</p><p>V automatically shook his head and held the hard drive tighter. She shouldn’t be able to reach him. The vent wasn’t really built with the idea of allowing an adult to slip into after all.</p><p>The blonde huffed in slight frustration as she started to squeeze herself into the vent as much as she could, trying to grab V with one hand, and said, ‘Come on, you big baby, I don’t have time to let you play in here.’</p><p>V moved back more and looked back sharply when his back hit something. Shit! He had already reached the dead end!</p><p>‘I got you now!’ Sarah exclaimed loudly as her hand snapped forward like a snake coming to strike a helpless rat. V tucked his legs in at the last moment, the fingertips only grazing tip of his covered toes. That was too close! The blonde growled in anger as she struggled to stretch a bit more, looking more and more like a struggling snake. Curses were spilling out of the blonde’s mouth as she slapped the vent in anger.</p><p>It took V a moment to realize that the woman was actually stuck... Well then... That was a bit anticlimactic...</p><p>‘Ugh... A simple gig... Ruined by a brat...’ Sarah bemoaned.</p><p>V could only coo in apology. Not exactly how he was imaging this would end for her, but this was his home and he couldn’t exactly turn a blind eye on this matter. Better luck next time he supposed.</p><p>***</p><p>It took three hours before Joachim came back home to find the two of them in their questionable positions. Security had been called in to help get Sarah out of the vent. V’s dad quickly came to grab him when the baby finally crawled out of the vent, frowning when he saw the hard drive he was holding. The babysitter tried to explain that it was all V’s fault, tampering with the house’s wiring and pulling out the hard drive, though everyone gave her nothing but suspicious looks, seeing her story sounded very ludicrous. In the end, NCPD had been called and Sarah was detained for negligent supervision of a child. Needless to say, the Belmont patriarch was no longer going to hire her, so everything worked out in V’s opinion.</p><p>As father and son sat in the baby’s room, waiting for a doctor to arrive to check on him, Joachim held his child on his lap, with a children book held open in one hand, and murmured softly, ‘Looks like sticking with me is a safer option for you. Assuming you won’t end up destroying the whole company by accident.’</p><p>That comment made V scoffed slightly, but he would admit that he was kind of interested to see how the Belmont Clan worked. While the baby was preoccupied by his thought, he didn’t immediately notice something strange and distorted was spreading over the wall near his crib.</p><p>A male figure started to take shape on the wall. The figure was V’s Nomad self, holding a worn duffle bag over his shoulder and wielding a broken katana in the other. The Edgerunner stood over a red cliff that overlooked Night City in the distance, behind him sat a small feline creature whose bright yellow eyes glowed faintly as it awaited the next chapter to this Fool’s journey.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. 02 - The Path set by the Magician</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>V found himself standing within a construction site. A very familiar one, for this was the place where the disgraced Arasaka bodyguard had taken him to check out the Arasaka Industrial Park. <em>Takemura…</em>V thought as he rushed towards the elevator and found nothing but an empty space where the platform once stood, then he looked around and spotted a flight of stairs. He ran up the stairs, running with desperation clinging onto his steps. He needed to see Takemura! He needed to tell him it wasn’t his fault! He needed to apologize for everything!</p><p>V ran and ran, round and about, but the stairs seemed endless. He kept on running despite how painful it felt as his heart was ready to burst out of his chest.</p><p>Shadow seemed to stretch down from above, its dark ink consuming everything on its path, reducing all to dust at its touch.</p><p>‘GORO!’ V shouted in despair as the steps he stood on buckled and he fell, watching the faint outline of the Japanese figure stood at the top and forever out of his reach.</p><p>***</p><p>V woke up with a gasp as he sat up abruptly, breathing heavily in the darkness of his room. Again. The same dream. The same nightmare. It had been seven years already... Ever since the day he had laid eyes on the strange mural of his past self, he would always find himself trapped in that endless loop in his dream, chasing after Takemura who remained out of reach, wanting to find forgiveness for the final moment of his past life.</p><p>The seven-year-old slowly got his breathing under control as the web of dream slowly faded away from his mind. As time went on, V had learned how to handle this troublesome matter. Otherwise, he would have been left as a gibbering mess in a mental institute. A quick drink from the bottle of water he always had on his nightstand to rehydrate himself and then onto the guitar by his bedside. The young reincarnated was never sure if it was Johnny’s strong musical imprint that made him find comfort in music or it was just easier for him to forget his emotional troubles by playing the guitar.</p><p>‘We lost everything...’ V started softly as he plucked the first few notes on his guitar. The one thing that was different between him and Johnny in terms of music was that he leaned more towards the acoustic play style. Sure, he enjoyed the Samurai rock music, but when he himself was playing, he wanted something softer and gentle, a balm to soothe his broken spirit and not a detonator to blow the world away.</p><p>Never Fade Away was the one song that remained the strongest in his mind and his fingers easily recalled the pattern on the strings. Perhaps it was because it strongly echoed the story of his past. Finishing the whole song was like putting to rest his past. Except a part of it would continue to haunt him, for the guilt he carried would never fade and he was reminded of it every single night.</p><p>With a sigh, V set aside his instrument and lay back on his bed. The moment he could access the net, he had devoured everything he possibly could on history and recent events. Everything was the same as his previous life, there was still an Arasaka Corporation, still ruled by a Saburo Arasaka, and a nuclear bombing in 2023 had wiped out Night City’s Arasaka Towers. So far, everything was going down the same path like his past life. Except... His research on this peculiar piece of history had made him realized something he had completely missed in his past.</p><p>It wasn’t easy to search for classified information in the Net with his current condition, but what he had managed to gather had led to a worrisome conclusion. The Johnny Silverhand he knew... might actually be a lie. Initially, he didn’t want to believe that the construct who had been with him in his journey for a solution to their mutual problem was nothing but badly reconstructed engram of the original.</p><p>What led him to this conclusion?</p><p>First clue came up when the child had broadened his search to other individuals involved in the incident. Adam Smasher was one V had focused on for a while and he had found some inconsistencies between the stories that surrounded this grim legend and his connection to Silverhand. According to the information he managed to dig up, Smasher had an unusual obsession towards Morgan Blackhand, another legendary Solo, and seemed to be chasing after this peculiar individual. For a mercenary who was so focused on flatlining Blackhand would he even pay any peculiar attention about Johnny? If anything, V could easily picture the Borg saw the Rockerboy as nothing but a tiny obstacle in his path to zero his archenemy. Yet in Johnny’s memories, the Borg was strangely focused on eliminating him and had spoken in manner that suggested he had sworn to end Silverhand personally, which wouldn’t make much sense, seeing Smasher’s obsession was Blackhand.</p><p>Second clue concerned Saburo Arasaka and his eldest son, Kei Arasaka. According to some reports, the CEO was technically on house arrest during the Forth Corporate, because of the conflicts between the megacorporation and the Japanese government at the time. All management of the Arasaka’s American branch had been left to Kei. In other words, it wasn’t possible that the Head of the Arasaka could appear anywhere near Night City when Johnny got hit by Soulkiller, like V had witnessed in the Rockerboy’s memories. Was it possible that the one Silverhand had actually faced in his last moment was Kei Arasaka? The whole face-to-face encounter with the Head of the Arasaka family was... well... remade to suit Johnny’s vision of his final moment? Facing the very man that represented all the evil Corpos?</p><p>Third clue was what Alt had said in their first meeting. That was not what had happened. V had initially brushed those words off as your typical denial spat between two lovers’ point of views, but with what he had now gathered, the artificial intelligence might be stating an obvious fact. The female AI must have realized that during their interaction in her BBS and had noticed the minor differentiations of the engram from the original one.</p><p>Fourth and final clue that had hit him like a truck had officially branded him an idiot. The heist. The containment case got broken and the bioshard integrity was dropping fast. It was already a degrading chip back then. Not to mention the damage it had later sustained from the bullet. If the Relic’s main purpose was to completely reprogram the body and set things up to fit the construct into said body, then if it was lacking certain elements, it must retrieved the necessary components to repair what was missing. The nanotech to repair the human body and... the host’s memories or knowledge to patch up the corrupted fragments.</p><p>Fuck... V was right back then. It wasn’t just him getting more of Johnny Silverhand. Johnny was also getting more parts from V. Hell! Their mentality was practically a Frankenstein creation of the original Rockerboy and him! This whole mental fusion wouldn’t have happened if their luck wasn’t so rotten the night of the heist. Then again... it was thanks to this string of unfortunate coincidences that both of them got a second chance, a chance to repent for their mistakes and be a better person. V had managed to leave a mark in Night City as a legend, when he should have been a rotting corpse in the landfill, and Johnny managed to help his old friends through their present troubled life, when he had been nothing but a self-centered prick in the past.</p><p>A lie or not, the Johnny Silverhand V came to know did end up being a good friend. Annoying, yes, but a good friend nonetheless. One who stood by his side, bringing him as much grief as he was supporting him until they reached the core of Mikoshi. If he had realized all these facts earlier... He doubted he would ever want to have anything to do with this artificial soul. Nevertheless, this journey they had embarked was as desperate as it was a soul-searching one. They both gained something through all the trials they had faced together and became better than who they initially were.</p><p>With another sigh, V closed his tired grey blue eyes and slept once more. Yes, his past was filled with many mistakes, some brought bad conclusions that he wished he could correct and others had gifted him unexpected goods. He had done all that he could and risked everything he had to survive the ordeal. His reward for all of his sacrifices was becoming another legend in Night City. Now... Valentine Belmont just wanted a simpler life.</p><p>***</p><p>Located at the edge of the Industrial Park of Night City laid the small structures of the Belmont Clan, the small empire the head of the Belmont family had built up from scratch. Unlike the other huge brands that surrounded it, this security company had mostly operated under the radar, though its reputation to complete any difficult tasks the clients handed to them was an unquestionable one. Security details and convoy protections might not sound like big money, but they were the most stable income for the company, the heavy eddies were made from the behind this stability. Initially, V wondered how did the Belmont patriarch managed to not step on the toes of any of the major leagues Fixers in Night City, then he slowly understood that it wasn’t that he didn’t step on anyone’s foot, it was that Joachim was playing a different game, a more dangerous one. Sure Corpos hired Edgerunners through Fixers in private to solve their problems without raising a scandal and to avoid being connected to the incident in any possible way, though there were cases when the job had to be a message to others. The Belmont Clan was the one who send out these messages in the stead of other companies. Assassination, spying and retrieval were their blood money as they whispered their threats in the dark or put an amicable smile publically while slitting their target’s throat.</p><p>This company was drenched in the blood of many to reach its current reputation like any other corporations, though V couldn’t find it in him to hate the Belmont Clan like he usually did when dealing with Corpos from one company to another. The reason was not because it was founded by his father, rather it was how this whole company operated that had kept him quiet and at peace. It wasn’t a cesspool where one must devoured each other to reach higher positions or diminishing the number of competitions. Instead, it felt like a Nomad clan. A Corpo styled Nomad clan weirdly enough. Hmm... Usually that line of thought would make him think of the Snake Nation, but he had a hard time to even compare the Belmont Clan to that. Not to mention, their tasks weren’t that different from an Edgerunner, they just had a brand name to go with the job.</p><p>While there were rankings within the company, it wasn’t seen as heavily important as it would to other Corpos. Every employee was like members of a big family, almost everyone knew everyone else, just like your typical Nomad clan, except it was composed of people from different walks of life. Honestly, V was pretty sure this would count as a circus at some point.</p><p>‘Young Master Belmont, welcome back,’ a heavy British accented voice called out as the child passed through the company’s main doors with his school bag slung on one shoulder.</p><p>‘Hey Jarvis!’ young V greeted the middle-age man back with a wave of his hand. Jarvis Butler was literally the butler of Joachim Belmont or as he preferred to say, he was Sir Belmont’s gentleman. Blond silver hair slicked back in an undercut hairstyle sat on top of an angular face that offered smile readily, light crowfeet dusted the corners of his eyes affected by heterochromia: his right eye had a golden shade to it while his left eye had a sky blue one. The unique coloured eye was often hidden by the tinted monocle he wore. His immaculate white dress shirt and green waistcoat often hid the lean muscled body he actually had, while his black dress pants and polished black shoes were very eye-catching within the facilities, where almost everyone wore either combat boots or steel-toed shoes. Both of his arms were cybernetic in nature, covered in black plates with dark green highlights on the joints, a striking contrast to his pale skin. ‘Father is in his office I assume?’</p><p>First rule that Joachim Belmont had hammered into his second child’s head was to immediately report to him whenever he came to the company. At times, V wondered if he was trying to keep him away from the Belmont Clan’s nastier businesses or if it was just his old military habits that made him set this ridiculous rule. Not that the child peculiarly cared for the reason, but he nonetheless followed this rule, so that he would be allowed to come and go as he pleased. <em>If you bow your head, then only to one of higher standing. Right, Goro?</em> The child thought mirthlessly. There were times one should be a rebel and others when you must learned obedience. How strange that all the wise words he had learned in his previous life, they all came from two different extremists.</p><p>‘Indeed, young Master Belmont,’ the butler answered as he picked up the tablet on the counter. While the company rarely received any actual visitor, the blonde-haired man had kept his post near the entrance and waiting area to handle any peculiarity that graced their humble establishment, dealing with paperwork and scheduling as well as whatever needs the Belmont family might required of him. The British immigrant might not look like it, but he was actually the company’s lawyer as well. ‘Do you need me to lead the way?’</p><p>‘Nah, it’s fine. Keep up the good work!’ V said as he moved in front of the sealed double doors in front of him, waiting for the scanners to finish their sweep. ‘Oh, and please get some tea and biscuits.’</p><p>‘They are already on their way to the office,’ Jarvis replied with a smile before V went through the opened doors and entered a short hallway where the Belmont Clan’s public successful jobs were put on digital display.</p><p>The area beyond this hallway was the departure zone, where all manner of vehicles were parked and some were getting ready for their upcoming mission. The child politely greeted the employees who all greeted with smiles on their face before seriousness returned as they focused once more on their given assignments.</p><p>The next area was the research and development sector. The company often built and maintained their own weapons and vehicles, they even picked up discarded shipments and reused the materials they could salvage to create better equipments or to repair whatever broken ones they had. Honestly, this facility made V felt the most at home. The buzzing sound from a saw, the clanking noise from something getting hammered, the sizzling from a laser welding metal and the heavy CHOOH2 smell in the air were all elements that reminded him of his Nomad life. Not to mention he could see some good toys getting built from scratch. Sad that he was technically forbidden to utilize anything in here, because he was a kid, something that he wanted to argue with Joachim about, seeing the damn second-in-command of this zone was-</p><p>‘BOCCHAMA!!!’</p><p>A petite shape instantly tackled him into a tight hug.</p><p>
  <em>Ah... Speak of the Devil...</em>
</p><p>The person who was now treating V like a teddy bear was named Aragaki Shun, a 12-year-old engineer and the youngest member in engineering, also the granddaughter of the Chief Engineer and one who liked to openly declare that V had stolen her heart at first sight. Well... he had met so many strange people in his past that it felt like he was a damn magnet for weirdness. Not that Shun was a bad kid per say, just too eccentric to his taste, and he respected both her and her grandfather. The young Aragaki was a Japanese American and her only family was her grandfather, Aragaki Hatori, who she had learned all her engineering skill from. Both old and young Aragaki were responsible in creating better tools for field operatives as well as tuning up the vehicles. Of course, after the engineers got the general blueprints down, the documents were then handed to the workers in their department for mass productions and upgrades.</p><p>‘Hi Shun,’ V greeted back as he pried himself out of her hug and quickly skipped a few steps away from the girl. Honestly, for someone who should be on their growth spurt, Shun’s height was around his with only an inch or two of difference. At her rate, she would probably reach a teenager’s height by the time she hit her thirties. Her favourite olive-coloured engineer cap covered her mop of black hair with a thick rectangular-shaped goggle hanging on top of it, her grey mechanic jumpsuit was covered in heavy patches of grease stain, her fully stacked tool belt hanged diagonally over her hips and her steel-toed boots always looked oddly gigantic on her tiny feet.</p><p>‘SHUN! STOP PLAYING WITH THE BOY AND HELP ME WITH THIS DAMNABLE MACHINE!’ a rough voice yelled out, causing both children to flinch. Both of them turned to stare at the short old man who was approaching them in quick short steps. ‘YOU CAN PLAY DURING YOUR BREAK OR AFTER WORK SHUN!’</p><p>Every time V saw Aragaki Hatori, he couldn’t help but think that dwarves actually existed, in Night City of all places. Honestly, the grandpa had all the elements that you could find in fantasy novel about a dwarf. A short muscular body structure, wild salt-and-pepper hair with an equally messy bearded face, and doing the equivalent job of a smith. All those check marks were ticked, though he held more modern elements than the medieval style. Nonetheless, Hatori was the perfect image of a dwarf, who would be giving them a whack on the arm with his giant wrench if they didn’t move now.</p><p>‘Nice to see you too Hatori and later!’ the boy shouted and quickly ran away.</p><p>‘What? Wait! I was going to ask-AUGH! <em>JIJI</em>!’ Shun yelled in frustration. V didn’t even bother to look back or listen to the argument those two were brewing again. When their creative juice was flowing, they would be chatting like twins on an important mission, but when a fuse was lit between them, the only thing anyone could do was basically run for it, unless you wanted to become collateral damage.</p><p>The child hurried along the corridor to reach the main building, greeting some off-duty workers along the way, and ran up the stairs to the third floor where his father’s office was located. The head office was not only located at the center, but it also had a 360 degree view of all the surrounding sectors, data from each department were directly displayed onto the glass window facing each sector, in the middle of all this sea of data sat his father and his semi-circular desk.</p><p>‘Father,’ V greeted his parent politely, standing straighter and leaving his arms on his sides.</p><p>‘Valentine,’ Joachim acknowledged, eyes not leaving the screen of his computer as he gestured at one of the guest chairs in front of his desk. The brunet quietly sat down and set his bag on the other chair, patiently waiting for his father to finish whatever task he was doing.</p><p>Silence settled between father and son, only the light beeping of the keyboard echoed in the room. Grey blue eyes went to scan the desk out of boredom. The desk was one of pure ebony with an impeccable surface, all pens were set in an orderly fashion and all documents were properly piled into neat categorized stacks. The only things that looked out of placed on this organized minimalistic desk were a silver tray with warm tea and biscuits, a bonsai tree and a paper crane.</p><p>The bonsai tree and paper crane were the objects he often focused upon the most whenever he visited his dad, seeing they were the only things that were a tiny touch of his father’s personality. The tiny tree was surprisingly healthy and meticulously cared for, something that V found odd for a man like his dad, but he supposed in this line of work, he needed a certain level of balance between taking out a life and taking care of a life. While V had classed the plant as a mental outlet, the paper crane was a mystery he hadn’t managed to solve. It was small and insignificant looking, a poor addition to every other immaculate items on the desk. The paper seemed to have been torn from some kind of instruction booklet and its yellowed colouring indicated it had been folded a great deal of time ago, there were also stains of brown on it that the child would bet was dry blood. Was this crane a memento?</p><p>‘The principal had called this morning,’ Joachim suddenly announced, dragging V’s attention back onto him instantly and causing his son to straighten himself on his seat. ‘He had offered to transfer you straight to high school senior level if you pass a minor entrance exam.’</p><p><em>Shit... So much for trying to lay low...</em> V mentally berated himself, though how did they manage to figure he was above grade school levels? Sure, he had kept his marks high, but not to the point some might think he was a prodigy of some sort and he had been keeping his head down to avoid drawing attention. Just being your average student in your typical grade school.</p><p>His dad handed him a tablet in reply, which the child reluctantly took and on it was a familiar game interface he had been playing for a while. An educational game that focused on strengthening one’s mental capacity while introducing new knowledge to the user. Last he checked he had already reached the master levels in engineering and coding, the other subjects such as literature, mathematic and strategy scored an above average mark. Initially, it was boring to him with all the basic problems and puzzles, though he came to love the challenges he was getting the higher he climbed through the ranking system. Not to mention he was learning new things as he continued, so it had kept him hooked in.</p><p>‘It’s a game,’ the brunet remarked. A game couldn’t be used for proof that he was smarter than the rest of the students in his grade school.</p><p>‘It’s one that was built by your mother,’ Joachim replied with his impassive look, his eyes were wholly focused on his child.</p><p>V had to force himself to not even grimace at the mention of that underserved title. Natalia Belmont nee Faust was a famous researcher who was searching for a way to break pass the limitation of a human brain. Lots of people thought she might be the only one who could cure cyberpsychosis. Ha! That woman cared nothing about helping people, seeing her sole focus lied in unlocking the full potential of human brain. Nevertheless, it did not change the fact that her works actually brought excellent results. Lots of Corpo parents had been buying up her works to... readjust the disappointment level of their children. Great... That woman was near non-existent in his life and yet she still managed to rub him the wrong way. Still, he should have paid more attention to the names in the credit to avoid this outcome.</p><p>Actually, the child probably should had been keeping tabs on all his activities, even though it was fucking hard to act like a kid who had no knowledge of the outside world. Once, his father had sent out a full squad after him once when he had snuck out of the penthouse without a word and went to Kabuki on his own to check on the latest stock of hardware and software the market had available. Needless to say, he was grounded for a year for that stunt. There was also that one time when he ended accidentally helping Sirius with some of his homework, he didn’t think too much about it then, wanting to just help his brother with what were basic math problems for him, though he ended up helping more and more over time. All in all, his unusual behaviours and rather extensive knowledge of subjects that a kid of his age shouldn’t have had more or less set up a bunch of neon signs that pointed out his anomaly.</p><p>‘Do I have to?’ V settled with as he set the tablet down on the desk to take a biscuit.</p><p>‘No,’ his father answered as he took a sip from his cup of tea. ‘But do you really want to waste time on subjects you already know?’</p><p>The child didn’t answer immediately, though he did openly grimace at that. Waste time, huh? He grounded his teeth on the baked food at that. He wanted to insist that he didn’t want to bump up a couple of grades out of the blue or that he didn’t want to draw more unwanted attention on himself, but those two words hit him hard in the guts.</p><p>
  <em>There’s no time to waste V.</em>
</p><p>The brunet inwardly flinched as Goro’s stern voice surfaced from his memories. He supposed this sort of environment would bring out the Arasaka bodyguard more, seeing this was his element, though he knew that Johnny would agree as well in this case. He shouldn’t be wasting time pretending to be your average Joe, he needed to aim higher and use this chance to do what he didn’t had the chance to accomplish in his past life. Yes, the risks were substantial, but accepting the deal would also open up opportunities that were barred from him previously.</p><p>With a sigh, V asked, ‘When is the test taking place if I accept?’</p><p>‘As soon as the day after tomorrow,’ Joachim answered as he set his cup down. ‘If you succeed, you will be put in the same classes as your brother.’</p><p>At least it wouldn’t be as awkward as dealing with a bunch of teenage seniors on his lonesome, having Sirius for backup would be a godsend. His big brother had what he sorely lacked, the charisma of a leader and the mind for business managements, Sirius was definitely growing into the role of being the Belmont Clan’s future successor. V would have to figure how to deal with college matters as the year progressed. Sheesh... Talk about dropping a heavy responsibility onto the weak shoulders of a poor seven-year-old, though he was technically 34-year-old now. A strange bug of nervousness started to crawl within his stomach for this life’s first major decision.</p><p>‘Understood, sir. I will take the exam,’ V announced in a determined tone as he stared into the eyes of his parent, showing the adult that he was going to take this challenge on.</p><p>A weird glint had glazed over the other’s eyes, though it was gone as quickly as it came. The head of the family nodded his head in response as his eyes glowed bright blue for a minute, sending out a message with V’s response no doubt.</p><p>‘Very well, I suggest you take the time to go over some of the subjects you would be tested on,’ Joachim said as he put his personal link over the tablet, transferring the data package he had received onto it.</p><p>The child thanked his father as he took the tablet to check the data: a list of subjects that would appear in the exam, your typical copy and paste bullshit letter on getting such an awesome opportunity and the list of textbooks and uniforms he would have to pick up.</p><p>‘Then I’ll be taking my leave, father,’ V said politely as he stood up and grabbed his school bag.</p><p>‘Before you leave, Valentine, you need to check in with Dr. Ye,’ the Belmont senior said.</p><p>V grimaced once more as he looked at his dad with an almost pleading look and asked, ‘Do I have? I am fine, father. I’m not sick or anything.’</p><p>‘That is an order, Valentine,’ Joachim rebuked in his commanding officer tone, something that he would usually pull out when he was adamant about certain decisions, so no amount of begging or bribing would move this stubborn mule.</p><p>The brunet barely suppressed the urge to swear out loud before he just nodded and muttered, ‘Understood.’</p><p>V quickly left the room at that, sighing once the automatic door closed behind him and wondering if he could slip out of the facility without checking in with Dr. Ye like his dad had ordered, though they were probably prepared for this, so his chance was greatly lowered. Grey blue eyes blinked in surprise as they caught something strange dancing around the bottom of the stairs, then V watched in surprise as patches of distortions zipped up from the walls and stairs. <em>Oh no...</em></p><p>The anomalies soon gathered onto the wall beside the office door, much like the mural in his room, sharp shapes were traced onto the wall and colours were filling up the blanks until they left behind another tarot card.</p><p>The figure depicted on the mural was Joachim Belmont, gazing forward with a stern look on his face. His scars had a raging shade of red like they were recent injuries, where blood was dripping down from his face onto his shoulder, covering the left side of his black pristine suit like a red cloak. His hands rested over a desk, where a digital contract, a bloodied knife and a disassembled gun rest upon it. A bright golden infinity symbol glowed brightly like a neon sign behind the Belmont patriarch.</p><p><em>The Magician.</em> V thought grimly. He was starting to suspect that either some higher powers were toying with him or this was a side-effect the damn Relic had left behind in his mentality. What could it mean? He had no fucking clue. Last time, he had just been stumbling upon them by complete coincidence and this time, it seemed like they were getting unlocked by the choice he made. Kind of wish that he could just ring Misty or something, so that she could tell him what these tarot murals meant. Sadly, he didn’t have any luck of seeing the mystic girl whenever he swung by Heywood, no sign of Misty or Jackie on the streets, a part of him was scared that his friends didn’t exist in the first place in this world. That fear was easily quelled when he reminded himself that history hadn’t had any noticeable change, so it was more probable that he had simply missed them or it wasn’t the right time for them to meet yet...</p><p>The child glared at the mural for a second before he turned his back on this unresolved mystery. Maybe he would figure them out one day, though he just hoped they weren’t pointing him to the same ending.</p><p>Heading towards the medical wing was a walk that the young Belmont could do with his eyes closed, because he needed to report to the doctors there for a full medical check-up every month, running through different cognitive and physical tests, collecting urine and blood samples, and going through different scans on his body. If V didn’t know any better, they were all expecting him to die soon or something, what with how many tests and samples they kept forcing him to take.</p><p>‘Hi Valentine,’ a gentle accented voice greeted V softly when he entered the Medbay. Grey blue eyes instantly found the familiar figure of his treating physician. Wavy black hair was tied up into a bun, her brown eyes were framed by a pair of trimmed glasses, her navy medical scrub was covered the white doctor coat. Dr. Ye Ting, known as Madam to the rest of the company, was the chief of the medical staff, always greeting everyone with a kind and motherly smile and making sure everyone was healthy and healed when they left the infirmary. In a way, the young reincarnated child was partially adopted by this woman who had treated him like her own son and had done her best to make his monthly examination as brief and quick as possible. He supposed the best comparison was an Asian version of Mama Wells.</p><p>‘Hi, Madam,’ V greeted back, giving the Chinese woman a small smile as he put his bag into one of the lockers set up by the entrance. ‘Ready for my routine checkups.’</p><p>The medbay area was an unusual one compared to the other facilities, because it was divided into the three zones: the infirmary, the clean room, and green house. The infirmary was basically where all injured workers would go, rows of beds and private screens could be found there. The clean room housed all the machineries for medical tests and a surgery room for emergency. The green house was Dr. Ye’s personal ground, where she personally grew the plants that would be used to create different drugs they needed. For simple one-on-one appointments, Madam would bring her patients to her office space within the green house, where she had set up a small area with private screens to do the basic checkups.</p><p>V sighed as he got onto the medical bed as the female doctor gathered the items needed for his examination, letting the back of his heels tapped the bed lightly. His thoughts strayed back to all these enforced medical examinations his father had kept insisting him to do. Even Sirius didn’t need to go through all this crap every month and his brother had been doing minor missions for the company these days!</p><p>‘Is something wrong with me, Madam?’ V asked. It was a question that had been burning on his tongue since the Belmont patriarch had refused to answer it.</p><p>‘No, there is nothing wrong with you, Valentine,’ the older woman reassured him as she started taking his blood pressure.</p><p>‘Then why do I have to go through all these tests? People don’t usually have to go through these monthly,’ the young brunet questioned with a frown. ‘I don’t feel sick or anything. No nausea, no puking, no nosebleed, no muscle ache! Not one single sign of any illness! I am the perfect example of a healthy little boy!’</p><p>It was not his intention to lose it, but V couldn’t suppress this anger that had been brewing inside him. This body was young and healthy, this wasn’t the body of a bruised and dying corpse, so he couldn’t deal with the fact that he was going through all these tests like he was still desperately looking for a chance to live beyond his late twenties.</p><p>Dr. Ye had stopped all action when the boy shouted his frustration out loud. The Chinese woman set her tools aside, looking conflicted and perhaps even angry on his behalf, though she only ended giving him a sad smile. She rested a hand on his shoulder as she softly said, ‘I know this is difficult for you. I don’t think anyone want to go through these checkups since they could walk, but believe me when I say this. Your father cares and loves you. Never think otherwise. This is all for your own good, Valentine.’</p><p>‘But why?’ V demanded, wanting to have a clear reason behind these examinations.</p><p>‘You are still young, little one,’ Ye Ting continued softly before she gave him a brief hug. ‘One day, you’ll understand.’</p><p>That did not answer his question the slightest. With a heavy sigh, V requested, ‘Can you at least tell me if I am going to die or not?’</p><p>‘You aren’t dying and I won’t let you die,’ the doctor said with serious look. Possibly a little offended that the child would even think she would keep such grave matters a secret.</p><p>With another sigh, V weakly gestured at the tools by the bed and said in resignation, ‘Let’s just get this over with.’</p><p>Ye Ting gave a small nod in acknowledgement before she moved to continue with the examination. The child looked up at the glass dome as the good doctor prodded him gently and took down notes, the lines of shadow cast upon him was a harsh reminder of his current reality. While he had accessed to greater options than in his previous life, the freedom he had held so dearly was no longer available to him.</p>
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